Something More
by Conterra-san
Summary: Axel reflects on the true nature of the Key of Destiny and how he must now act, though it may cost him his life. Slightly AU. Friendship one-shot for AxelRoxasDemyx Day!


HAPPY AXELROXASDEMYX DAY!!!

As brought to my attention by my dear K-nee-chan, who randomly texted me to wish me these happy tidings. I didn't get it either, until I looked at the date (8/13/09).

My basically favorite Organization 13 members for the win!

And so, she challenged me to write a story involving something piratical . .

As warning, all three of them may seem a bit out of character, or AU, but whatever.

**Something More**

**by **

**Conterra-hime**

I'm staring blankly into the darkness, wishing I were anywhere but here.

All I see is darkness. I feel like all I've ever seen is darkness. I was born into darkness. My past, my childhood, is shrouded in darkness. My soul—including the missing piece in my existence—is darkness. When I travel, I go through darkness. My companions—one by one—are falling into darkness.

This isn't what I want to see. This isn't where I want it to end.

Ever since the beginning, I've had questions. I still don't know how I reached this point, how I became a person caught between two worlds, someone fighting for a near impossible and possibly vengeful goal that I don't even truly understand. I still don't know how I can still live and feel and _be_, even without a heart.

I don't believe them. I don't believe _him_. What Xemnas has told us, what he has instructed us to do, everything just seems. . .off. If I really didn't have a heart, if I didn't have morals, or a sense of direction, I would have gone along with him. But I do. That's why I fought back. Fought to get my own will back.

That's why I wouldn't stop Roxas, not really. That's why I did everything within my power to get him back, even when they told me to give up, that he was a traitor.

They did something to him. It wasn't his fault. And I wasn't going to. . .I wasn't going to _kill_ my _best friend_.

Let the darkness try and swallow that.

I've been idly playing with my chakrams during my dismal contemplation of the bleak nothingness in the place-that-is-no-place, even though I cannot see them. I light them up just so I can feel the rush of adrenaline that accompanies my element coursing through my veins.

I laugh, the joy of the whirling fire making me giddy.

I ain't freaking scared of you, Darkness. I'm the Flurry of Dancing Flames, and I can destroy you whenever I wish. Me. Odoru Hi no Kaze.

Got it memorized?

And reflected in the flashing metal and blazing heat, I can see my own face, my eyes blazing like two pricks of blue-white flame. And a memory sparks, a memory in which I could see three faces in the blaze instead of just one. . .

"_Aw, come on, guys, this really wasn't necessary," Demyx whined as the three Organization members idled on the deck of a vaguely unstable looking ship._

"_Of course it was, you wuss, where is your sense of adventure?" Axel grinned brightly, slinging an arm around the protesting Melodious Nocturne. _

_Roxas was flipping a coin back and forth between his fingers, not really looking at it. "Why do you think we need a stake in this world anyway, Axel?"_

"_Aw, come on, squirt, who knows what Xemnas really thinks about anything anyway? All we have to do is listen to him. Or he destroys us. You're Thirteen, remember? Got it memorized?"_

"_Yeah, yeah," Roxas waved him off almost nervously. "I'm not stupid."_

_Demyx shrugged Axel off of him, moaning. "But why do we have to sail around on this ship? We could have easily enjoyed the pirates' hospitality on land!" _

_Axel snickered at the faintly green-tinged face of the blond man and punched him in a brotherly fashion on the shoulder, sending Demyx staggering. "You're weak, dude. Who knew a little water could make you sick?"_

_Demyx cringed almost instinctively. "Come on, water does not make me sick."_

_Axel scoffed, and began idly swinging a chakram around one hand. "Oh really. Is that why every time you go to fight you look like you're gonna hurl?"_

_The other crossed his arms, looking a bit wounded. "Aggression is never the answer, ok?"_

"_Because you can't fight, or because you actually believe that?"_

"_Fighting or not, I command the waters, so just chill out."_

"_Prove it," a maniacal grin split Axel's face, "and I'll let you off this dingy."_

_Roxas rolled his eyes and chucked his coin at his best friend's head. "Ship, firebrain. It's a ship."_

"_A rose by any other name would still burn," he retorted, smirking as he lit up the chakram, his gaze still trained on the now-perspiring Demyx as flames licked the deck in front of him. _

"_Why don't you pick on Roxas and let me be sick in peace?" Demyx whined, shrinking back from Axel's pet fire. "They say that water and fire are opposites, but, sheesh, you could still learn to cut me some slack."_

"_As if," Axel snorted. _

"_Aw, leave him alone, Axel," Roxas sighed._

"_What are you playing at, Divine Intervention?" Axel kidded. _

"_Yeah, is that why you get all shiny when you fight?" Demyx asked, sounding legitly interested. _

_Roxas glared at him, and Axel knew why. Roxas didn't understand the point of his attribute at all. It wasn't useful like fire or water, and while he could focus light in deadly beams he always felt like there was something missing. When he wielded the mysterious weapon that the higher-ups had called a Keyblade, when they called him Key of Destiny—Roxas was confused. He didn't understand where his path was going, and he didn't know where it had come from, just like Axel felt when he contemplated his own existence. But worse, for some reason. As if Roxas was supposed to be on a completely different path, following his so-called destiny, as if Roxas was missing an even bigger part of himself than Axel was. _

_Axel looked down at the glittering chakram, seeing his blue-flame eyes, Roxas' anger, and Demyx's cowardice all reflected there. Something indescribable stirred within him. "No, Demyx," he rasped softly, momentarily losing his care-free, like-is-a-joke attitude and exposing his dangerously intelligent, prone-to-over-thinking-things side, to answer for Roxas. "I think it is something more than that."_

The heat of the fire too close to my face jolts me back to awareness, and I spin my chakrams away, extinguishing them.

I have a decision to make.

Sure, I've spent most of this life pretending to take absolutely no one seriously and kidding around with everyone else. But it isn't true. I've always known there was something wrong with this picture. Something wrong with this whole set-up, the Organization, the Nobodies, the Somebodies (I guess they are conventionally called humans, or mortals, or whatever), and the Heartless. I've spent my existence carefully weighing all the odds, collecting all the information I possibly can, and I know that not all is what it seems.

And now, I have this final decision to make as I sit here, drained and alone in the darkness.

The one person I know who could really bring light was lost to our cause long ago. But was he really lost?

When I saw him he didn't even recognize me, didn't know me, didn't know about everything we'd gone through together. But it was still _him_. Just his face jolted me, made me remember our fights, our pranks, our laughter, our journeys.

And I felt this roaring, drowning, sucking feeling when he left. When I saw him, brainwashed and even more alone than before.

I thought I wasn't supposed to feel anything. Isn't that what you said, damnit?! Isn't that what you said, you lying, cheating, pathetic excuse for anything, Xemnas!?

And yet I did. And I still do. Roxas made me feel like I had a heart—or something funnily close to it.

Roxas, I wish I could tell you that I am sorry.

So I guess my decision is actually made. Roxas found his heart. He became who he was supposed to be. I see that now. But he's still there. He still lives, somewhere within this Keyblade bearer, this Sora.

I told him. . .he makes me feel the same way. Like I have a heart.

So I can't let them stop Sora.

Because I know I was right. Roxas was supposed to be following a different destiny, and he was spinning out of control, lost in that darkness. The light he embodied, that he wielded, it was all unlocked by that Keyblade.

Roxas has to become that light, and I have to save Sora. It doesn't matter what the cost, or what else I was supposed to do, this is more important than anything.

I stand, though I know there shouldn't have been anything for me to sit upon, or even now stand firmly on and the darkness shifts and bends and weaves, changing shades around me as I prepare to warp. Blues and grays and charcoal surround me, and I prepare my inner fire, revving my chakrams, ready to stop those who seek to destroy the last Light against the Darkness.

I'm not afraid of you, Darkness, remember? I can _really_ destroy you.

The portal opens, and I emerge, shocking Sora, the shadow of my best friend Roxas. Or perhaps he is the one who had cast the shadow that was Roxas.

I yell at him, senseless things, trying to tell him why I am here as I breathe hard, for that darkness had been my refuge. I know how badly I am hurt. But I also know how awfully outmatched Sora is.

Roxas, you _are_ the Key of Destiny. Live up to it. You unlocked my destiny, and you can unlock all else, saving all else, too. Live up to it, Sora.

The world becomes an inferno, blazing up in hungry flames that devour Nobodies, and I want Sora to go back, go back, his friends are waiting for him.

Friends.

That is what Roxas and Demyx truly were. Because, metaphysically, we _had_ hearts to guide us, to make us love, to will us to fight. To spread light, amidst our darkness.

And I was right.

This was always about something more.

Roxas, I am sorry. I hope I wasn't too late.

This was always about something more than me.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Axel.

A/N: Any comments would be appreciated, but keep in mind I really wrote this on a whim.

And to address the "basically favorite Organization members" comment, there is a special place for Xaldin in my heart, because wind is my element. But I don't think it is bigger than Axel's space XD.

Happy Axel Month! LOL

If you like Bleach or Avatar, I have some pretty awesome stories, go check them out!

Thanks for reading!

~Conterra-hime


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